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PALOS VERDES HIGH SCHOOL - ISSUE 1, VOLUME 30 - OCTOBER 10, 2025
Compete and Connect: All at the Cove
By Kasey Garth reporter Brought to life in the summer of 2025, The Cove is the newest addition to campus. Located next to the lunch tables, the cove was created with students in mind courtesy of the Booster Club. The Cove is still a work in progress, and is hoping to add more games and activities. Thanks to fundraisers led by the Booster Club, many students were able to submit their own art, photography, and designs that were later auctioned off at events to help fund the new space. “My photo won along [with] many other students that were auctioned at a Booster Club meeting. My photo was a photo of the big triton that’s on the football
field in black and white and I was trying to capture PV,” sophomore Julianne Snider said. The Cove reflects a growing effort to allow students to take a wellness break from the stress of school. This space is also a valuable resource to disconnect students from their electronics and connect with new and old friends. “It is an amazing thing and I’m so glad they are doing it. I often see students outside of class always on their phone instead of talking to each other. I think everyone needs to have fun and not be doing homework and being on their phones,” English teacher Jennifer Olson said. Three months into the school year, it is already becoming a popular destination during lunch,
nutrition and after school. As of right now, the Cove features multiple ping pong and foosballs tables. “I think the Cove is a good add-on to our school because it’s kind of like the King’s Corner or Sea King Park where it’s another place for students to congregate, but I think it’s even better because it has activities that students are kind of able to do,” senior Frances Slamar said. The Cove is also a valuable place to make new friends. The Cove is a place to meet new people, whether they are in the same grade or in a different grade. Students can show their competitiveness and spend time with other students through multiplayer games. “It doesn’t have to have the stress of trying to meet new people by trying to strike a conversation. It’s not forced or unnatural; the students can naturally get to know each other through the games they are playing,” Biology teacher Julie Maemoto said. The Cove is more than a space where students can go and play games during lunch and nutrition. It symbolizes how a community comes together to bring joy to the students and staff of our school.
Freshmen Frenzy:
PVHS Welcomes Largest Class Size in History
(Graphic courtesy of Madeline Um) By Evalyn Yu news editor Ever since welcoming 454 freshmen this year, the classrooms, halls and bleachers of PVHS have been more crowded than ever. PVHS’s enrollment has been on the rise since 2024. Traditionally, school size has been around 1400, but in recent years, it has shot up to 1600. “With PVHS’s small upperclassmen classes graduating and a new wave of freshmen and sophomores enrolling, its enrollment rates continue to skyrocket,” School Registrar Karen Mills said. For many freshmen, the decision to come to PVHS was an easy one. “We heard that PVHS was more fun. Everyone feels closer together and they’re involved
with each other,” freshman class president Owen Lacaillade-Post said. “This school offers an amazing combination of rigorous academics, amazing signature programs, and obviously, dominant athletic programs,” Associate Principal DJ Hill said. “What we always hear though, from families, is the PV High family vibe. The kindness that’s shown from the staff members and the people really creates a home-like environment for our students.” To accommodate the influx of students, PVHS hired more teachers to maintain the district’s 34:1 student to-teacher-ratio. “Almost every seat is taken, which creates a very vibrant community. Sometimes it’s a little hard to reach every student one-to-one every single day, but I really do enjoy the opportunity to
get to know so many kids on our campus,” English and Journalism teacher Cynthia Mindicino said. Students and staff have already noticed a change in campus atmosphere. “Lunch used to be dead on campus because so many people would not have a third or a sixth or they would just go home. Now, we have people sitting on the grass and it’s just so fun to see our campus come more alive,” Mindicino said. At lunchtime, Sea King Park is dotted with picnic blankets and bustling with lively conversations. “It’s the nicest thing, just sitting, bringing blankets, and chatting with your friend. When I entered school, nobody did that. I feel like [the freshmen] are…really seeing the positives of the campus,” senior Hillary Nguyen said. A large class size comes with built-in school spirit. “It’s brought a new energy to ASB and to me and the other teachers,” ASB director Jama Maxfield said. Their enthusiastic presence has even influenced the other classes. “The freshman class has really made the sophomores, juniors, and seniors feel like they need to bring the spirit. It makes us want to be better role models, so the freshmen know ‘Oh, we should be spirited like them,’” Nguyen said.
See page 3 for more!
Red Tide Rises:
A spirited start to the season
At the Homecoming football game, Red Tide Captains RJ Paddock, Will Maenius, Dempsey Resich, Bella Sachar, Kai Van Scoyoc and Colby Hammond lead the student section. (Graphic courtesy of Jama Maxfield) By Justin Whitehead reporter Seeing as the fall sports season is underway, our senior Red Tide captains have taken the stage as the leaders of our student section. Every year, the new members of Red Tide bring great excitement to all of our sporting events, with Red Tide having been around since our school reopened in 2002. Jama Maxfield, who began working as the Red Tide advisor in 2014, coordinates these groups of seniors who are extremely important to our school’s spirit. With the football season having kicked off last month, Red Tide has made these games very memorable so far. They lead the team out of the tunnel, provide everyone with props to cheer on the team and play music. They also perform various activities such as spraying a CO2 machine into the stands after a touchdown and getting someone from the stands to do as many push-ups as points our team has after every score. “There’s no better feeling than the team scoring a touchdown, the CO2 machine spraying, and the music blasting,” said Red Tide member Bella Sachar. But there is much more than simply showing up with spirit for these big events when they happen; these Red Tide captains put a lot of time and effort towards everything that they do, with them having “a weekly meeting” where they “plan out the game theme and if we have
to buy anything to support the theme,” according to Maxfield. Not only that, but they put in a lot of work on top of that, with Red Tide member Colby Hammond saying that “at the beginning of the year, we’d spend hours filming videos each week for games or homecoming.” Most recently, our Homecoming night game was a huge success. It definitely changes the atmosphere, with Hammond saying that “having a night game was a game changer for us. There’s just something different about playing under the lights.” It was also a knock out victory, as it was 52-0 against Banning, with it definitely boosting the atmosphere more, since “it’s always a great time when you are up by that much,” according to Sachar. The season’s still going, with the rivalry game with Costa coming up at the end of the month, with the theme being ‘Let’s go hunting,’ meaning everyone should deck out in camouflage gear to cheer on the Sea Kings against the Mustangs. The spirits are also high over in Red Tide, with Sachar saying that she’s “very excited for the football game at Mira Costa on Halloween. That is going to be super fun, as Costa is now our new football rival.” Despite this being a good start to the year, Red Tide still has a lot to cover for the rest of the school year. They hope to make the 2025-26 campaign as memorable as possible, and they have a lot to look forward to this year.